Shinigamii02 wrote:I personally think its a bad idea to use the actual Drowlove characters at all. This wont work, it will cause arguments, and unnecessarily hard things to explain away later.

I don't mind using the Drowlove setting, like the forest, the docks, and the town. Hell even the Underdark. But I think it best to leave the actual characters out that aren't NPC's.

This is potentially a really nice idea, actually. c: It'd make it *very* easy to get an ambiguously canon feel to it, and then none of us would actually have any obligation to post here, the readers could just go nuts and one of us could pop in with something canonical now and then.

This would also keep the DrowLove characters from feeling like the "stars" and overshadowing potentially cool new characters.

Luminance wrote:This is potentially a really nice idea, actually. c: It'd make it *very* easy to get an ambiguously canon feel to it, and then none of us would actually have any obligation to post here, the readers could just go nuts and one of us could pop in with something canonical now and then.

This would also keep the DrowLove characters from feeling like the "stars" and overshadowing potentially cool new characters.

I agree. Something of the same setting, NPC's from Drowlove, but not the main characters. It would never work, and yes it would feel like we're over shadowing the other characters. None of the stayed put long enough to actually have a good rp to interact with others really.

Shinigamii02 wrote:I personally think its a bad idea to use the actual Drowlove characters at all. This wont work, it will cause arguments, and unnecessarily hard things to explain away later.

I don't mind using the Drowlove setting, like the forest, the docks, and the town. Hell even the Underdark. But I think it best to leave the actual characters out that aren't NPC's.

This is potentially a really nice idea, actually. c: It'd make it *very* easy to get an ambiguously canon feel to it, and then none of us would actually have any obligation to post here, the readers could just go nuts and one of us could pop in with something canonical now and then.

This would also keep the DrowLove characters from feeling like the "stars" and overshadowing potentially cool new characters.

I don't really have anything against playing the DL cast - I've been playing a REALLY lose RP with flan over AIM and it hasn't really bothered me that he's taken out of context, and honestly the whole DL story is out of context for Flan's actual Campaign . BUT I know that Redux thread is really one of the most painful threads for me to post in for some reason, so there is a chance that that's going to be the same situation with this? I feel like this problem might be somewhat abated by not forcing the whole thing into a definite point in time. (I'm not really a fan of such specifics anyway )

The comment about playing the "Stars" does bother me though. :/ hmmm. Would Onion still be off limits? 8D?

I don't really have anything against playing the DL cast - I've been playing a REALLY lose RP with flan over AIM and it hasn't really bothered me that he's taken out of context, and honestly the whole DL story is out of context for Flan's actual Campaign . BUT I know that Redux thread is really one of the most painful threads for me to post in for some reason, so there is a chance that that's going to be the same situation with this? I feel like this problem might be somewhat abated by not forcing the whole thing into a definite point in time. (I'm not really a fan of such specifics anyway )

The comment about playing the "Stars" does bother me though. :/ hmmm. Would Onion still be off limits? 8D?

oh also: DO I GET TO PLAY A MONSTER? OMGOMGOMG

I'm having a hard time in redux to. But I'm also excited about making it look better.

BobTheDragon wrote:I know that Redux thread is really one of the most painful threads for me to post in for some reason, so there is a chance that that's going to be the same situation with this? I feel like this problem might be somewhat abated by not forcing the whole thing into a definite point in time. (I'm not really a fan of such specifics anyway )

The comment about playing the "Stars" does bother me though. :/ hmmm. Would Onion still be off limits? 8D?

oh also: DO I GET TO PLAY A MONSTER? OMGOMGOMG

1. Redux thread is so hard because I feel like we've already done this, but then when you look at it, you realize we uh, didn't. How frustrating!

2. I hope the "stars" thing doesn't sound bad, I really mean it in a more preventative way. If you use an extreme example, if there was a Penny Arcade forum RP where Gabe and Tycho were playing... Gabe and Tycho, guess who all the fans would want to interact with way more than other fan-made characters? ; I don't want to create that kind of feel, and it's something I hadn't thought of immediately.

3. YES BOB YOU SHOULD PLAY A LIZARDMAN OR SOME SHIT. CAN I PLAY A WATER CREATURE? LET'S PLAY WATER CREATURES TOGETHER!!

Luminance wrote:1. Redux thread is so hard because I feel like we've already done this, but then when you look at it, you realize we uh, didn't. How frustrating!

2. I hope the "stars" thing doesn't sound bad, I really mean it in a more preventative way. If you use an extreme example, if there was a Penny Arcade forum RP where Gabe and Tycho were playing... Gabe and Tycho, guess who all the fans would want to interact with way more than other fan-made characters? ; I don't want to create that kind of feel, and it's something I hadn't thought of immediately.

3. YES BOB YOU SHOULD PLAY A LIZARDMAN OR SOME SHIT. CAN I PLAY A WATER CREATURE? LET'S PLAY WATER CREATURES TOGETHER!!

Yeah, I really don't wanna, like, overpower the rp? :/ Admittedly, then that means that people WANT to rp with them, and then why are we taking that away from them. But then again, we've got QA thread for that. FDSAJKAJLSDKDFSA IDUNNO, WHAT DO YOU FANS THINK?

also: OH SHIT YEAH. I'VE SECRETLY BEEN TRYING TO CONVINCE ANY DM TO LET ME PLAY A TWO HEADED DIRE PORPOISE. LET'S DO THIS SHIT.Or rather, I think I'm gonna play my kobold "Otter" if I do play a monster :3. Unless we need to actually be serious in this thread, in which case, uh, idunno what I will play 8D

I love the idea of RPing in the Port the Drowlove cast passed through. Especially being able to watch the cast pass through the town. Being able to be scavenge through Fie's ruined house (Burnt underwear anyone?) and then run off when Autem turns up, to watch the barfight t'ween Flan and Drea and then wander off into the markets. Obviously these are just vignettes, but anything that builds on the setting is fun with a capital F. I'm almost tempted to dig my druid/tramp Mydus out and dust him off.

Dirigible wrote:Especially being able to watch the cast pass through the town. Being able to be scavenge through Fie's ruined house (Burnt underwear anyone?) and then run off when Autem turns up, to watch the barfight t'ween Flan and Drea and then wander off into the markets. Obviously these are just vignettes, but anything that builds on the setting is fun with a capital F.

Wow, I think starting before they pass through is a great idea! There's even a little bit of time where people were off camera and could potentially be approached by NPCs, if it was done properly.

I rather like this idea. I'm torn between playing Maris (who has been steadily morphing into a Discworld Witch kind of character that's a candy house short of cackle) and that lizardy shopkeeper thing.

I WONDER WHICH ONE BOB WILL WANT ME TO PLAY

Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici"By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe."

Drow Love characters versus Non-Drow Love characters:- Personally, I love all the characters in Drow Love. I think they're a lot of fun to read and I like their designs. As far as the "Star of the show" thing is concerned, I personally wouldn't mind it too much as long as everyone in the RP simply ignored the idea of "star of the show" concept and the Drow Love characters were simply treated as another element of the story, just like everyone's new character.

- The benefit to writing new characters in the Drow Love scene, however, is that it guarantees that everyone starts out on the same "playing field" if there is such a thing. It would be fun to develop new personalities that fit within the context of an already constructed world, and it opens up a different angle of creativity for not only fans of the story but the authors as well. It could, essentially, help expand upon what Drow Love already has going for it.

- Regardless of what direction everyone ultimately swings, I wouldn't be concerned about the issue of having fun. Everyone here obviously likes forum RPing and Drow Love already, and so getting to write with a new group that's enthusiastic about their work is always a blast.

Time line:- If we'd like to write using the cannon Drow Love characters, my vote is with an "alternate time line" idea, but in the strict sense of everyone being exactly the same. What I would suggest is a "freeze frame" moment (I've done this with my own DnD campaign characters and it's worked out splendidly)- take everyone's relationship status and history and freeze it in time. Then write using that knowledge. Generally the story will develop on its own, the characters will shift on their own, and it should flow pretty naturally.

If you wanted to have something that still felt like it was distinctly in the Drow Love storyline, what we could do is "disband" the group right now. There is a perfect opportunity in the story right now that we could do this, so essentially the opening of the Rp, we all walk in with the knowledge of "The last time the characters were in a group, they were ambushed by gargoyles and were forced to scatter. Being in a large forest area, they couldn't find each other again/didn't want to, and they haven't seen each other since." Fill in a little bit of individual back stories, and voila! You open the RP with "They didn't ever expect to see each other again, except one day...." etc.

- If we don't want to write using the Drow Love main characters, then what I propose is something totally awesome. I've been in a GREAT campaign with Bob as my DM (three years running, oshitya), and what we have is two different parties within the same campaign. They don't often directly interact with each other (they have crossed paths occasionally, but they don't adventure together) but what one party does affects what happens with the story of the other party. This can be directly related to the central plot line (for example, one party has a ring of three wishes that the other party desires so they may defeat a demon-lord) or it can be entirely peripheral (One party leaves behind three giant lizard mounts that the other party happens across and takes for their own.) This kind of direct/in-direct interaction with the "primary group" is really super fun because it leads to a lot of hand-over-mouth snickers that are extremely enjoyable to those who are involved. It's a great "wink at the audience" type thing that would be super fun to indulge in.

Plot:Here's my proposal for plot. No matter what kind of characters we decide to write, I think we should start off entirely scenario based, even if it means going with the classic, overdone "so your character is in an inn. What do you do?" Basically, open with a character in a situation, allow it to be open enough for others to step in, even if it's a little random. That way, we can throw everyone's character into a space and see who we're working with and what the dynamics are going to look like. THEN, after we've determined some of those basics, we can start talking "plot". Often times, one or more of the characters will have some kind of goal or direction built into their design, and that'll be a great way to get the ball rolling.

As far as setting is concerned, I would either like to play with the port town (because that place has a lot of opportunities for vastly different character types, which it looks like people are leaning in that direction) or I would like to open with one of the large forested areas (because that opens up the possibility of being lost, being in danger, stumbling across a "dungeon" and monsters, etc.) How this may or may not be directly related to the Drow Love story is entirely up to you.

Everything you said was great, except we are unable to splinter the party off at the moment, since we have PLANZ for those guys. c:

This is excellent though, I'm getting a pretty good idea of what people want and what we can do.

So here's my current proposal:

BobTheDragon wrote:a thread for optional short intros to the characters. Not full out sheets, but little 3 sentence blurbs to explain a bit of something that you feel you would be known about your character from a glance. Or a picture if you're inclined to that sort of thing :3

Potentially we should require new characters to at least have D&D style stats, with a point buy system, since that might self-moderate character creation and allow us to give any character done with the point buy thing a green light. A max level might also be a good idea, once again to weed out people applying as level 40 fighters with 90 strength. Of course, we don't need full character sheets for any reason, really, or dice-rolling/D&D rules after this...

As for the RP thread, begin in the town, BEFORE the DrowLove guys go through. Allow a little bit of establishing of new characters, then play out the DrowLove characters going through as in the comic. There's a couple places where they ARE off camera and can be interacted with directly, and when that's unavailable,

Dirigible wrote:Being able to be scavenge through Fie's ruined house (Burnt underwear anyone?) and then run off when Autem turns up, to watch the barfight t'ween Flan and Drea and then wander off into the markets.

They'll eventually pass through and leave the forum to deal with the aftermath. Potentially, they will be coming back through the town at some point, also, but there's a lot to do in the meantime... it's not like the RP can't travel outside the town, we're just beginning there! Shin knows pretty much everything about this island, I think!